RS100 European Championship - Action continues on day 3

Not quite a classic Garda day on day three of the RS100 Europeans, but almost as good. An amendment to the sailing instructions posted last night meant an early start at 11am. The fleet ventured out in a Northerly (Pela) force four and racing started promptly on a trapezoid course under the Western Cliffs.

Whilst Mark Cotgrove slept (not knowing about the early start), Andre Blasse powered upwind and rounded first followed by usual suspect Powell and Hall third. Blasse went for the hyper space button only to find he couldn’t lay the outer loop mark. Powell quickly took control with Hall in hot pursuit.

The second beat saw Blasse and Boyde power past Hall upwind with Powell holding a commanding lead to take the bullet and Blasse and Boyde holding station.

Race 2 saw carnage at the pin end with Cotgrove and Blasse getting involved. Boyde took advantage to power upwind closely followed by Powell and Hall. Blasse closed the gap at the windward mark but downwind Powell overhauled Boyde with Hall maintaining third. The final beat saw Blasse powering upwind to close the gap on Powell but all to no avail as Huw extended downwind, Blasse second and Hall third.

Race 3 saw the Pela wind slowly begin to diminish and Powell, Boyde and Hall were the unlucky trio when the race was abandoned on lap three with the finish a tantalising 400 metres away.

Race 3 revisited: The southerly ORA then settled in very quickly at the top end of a force four. The pin end was favoured with Powell leading at the windmark followed by Cotgrove and Hall. Downwind the cliffs were calling as Powell extended and Zamo, Boyde and Blasse gained significantly with Hall losing out. Positions were maintained until the final run with Powell finishing ahead by a huge margin, Cotgrove second and Hall cleared three boats on the last run to finish third.